Combined hinge and latch mechanism



Nov. 5, 1957 E. M. BEVILACQUA COMBINED HINGE AND LATCH MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 9, 1955 AWW/ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII INVENTOR. ERNEST M. BEVILACQUA ,BY

O WA

ATTORNEY Nov. 5, 1957 BEVILACQUA 2,811,740

COMBINED HINGE AND LATCH MECHANISM Filed May 9, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ERNEST M. BEVILACQUA 52 P16. 5 BY WMZ ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,811,740 COMBINED HINGE AND LATCH MECHANISM Ernest M. Bevilacqua, Allentown, Pa. Application May 9, 1955, Serial No. 506,786 1 Claim. (Cl. 16-142) This invention relates to a combined hinge and latch mechanism for connecting a door to a frame defining an opening to be closed by said door and for firmly holding said door in closed position in such a manner that the door can be pulled open without any manipulation of the latch.

The full nature of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic view, partly in top plan and partly in horizontal section, showing the application of my improved hinge and latch mechanism to the oven or broiler of a cooking range, the door being shown in full open position.

Fig. 2 is similar to Fig. 1 except that it shows the position of the parts when the door is in full closed position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, isometric view showing the position of the parts when the door is open, only those parts of the door and of the oven or broiler frame to which the hinge and latch mechanisms are secured being shown in phantom lines.

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view looking in the direction of line 5-5 on Fig. 2 showing the parts as they appear in fully closed position.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on line 6-6 on Fig. 5 showing the position of the latch parts when the door is fully closed.

Fig. 7 is similar to Fig. 6 and shows the position of the latch parts when the door is partly opened.

Fig. 8 is an enlargement of the center portion of Fig. 4 showing the position of the parts when the door is partly closed.

In the drawings the invention is shown applied to the oven, or broiler, compartment of a cooking stove, only the side walls 10 and bottom 11 of said compartment being shown. Conventionally, the open front end of the compartment is closed by a door which is hinged at its bottom end to swing about a horizontal axis. A door of this type is usually formed of an inner panel 12, an outer panel 13 and side, bottom and top walls which coact to form a box-like structure for receiving insulating material M only some of which is shown in Fig. 2.

The hinge of my invention includes a pair of rigid arms 16 which are rigidly secured, as at 14, to the sides 10 of the broiler, or oven compartment and the outer ends 18 of which project beyond the vertical front edge 20 of the broiler or oven compartment. The outer ends 18 of arms 16 are provided with openings 22 which are adapted to be engaged by rollers 24 which will be further referred to.

The outer ends 18 of arms 16 are extended downwardly to formvertical portions 26 which are pivotally secured, as at 28, to the inner ends 30 of elongated brackets 32 which are secured to the inner panel 12 of the door by bolts or the like 36 passing through flanges 38 at the inner ends of brackets 32. The inner panel 12 of the door is provided with slots 40 through which the outer ends 18 of arms 16 pass when the door is in the closed position of Figs. 2, 5 and 6, to permit rollers 24 to engage openings 22 to hold the door in its closed position.

Rollers 24 are mounted on shafts 44 which are journalled in the opposite arms 46 of springs 48 which are secured to brackets 32 as at 50. As will be seen from Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, brackets 32 are provided with openings 52 through which rollers 24 project first to ride on the sides of the outer ends 18 of arms 16, as in Fig. 7 and then to engage openings 22 as in Fig. 6. It will be noted from Figs. 6 and 7 that springs 48 bias the rollers toward the outer ends 18 of arms 16 or upwardly as viewed in Figs. 6 and 7 and to the left as viewed in Fig. 4. The lower ends of vertical extensions 26 of arms 16 are provided with shoulders 54 which when the door is in its fully opened horizontal position, engage shoulders 56 on brackets 32 to limit the counterclockwise rotation of this door.

The operation is as follows:

When the door is moved to its closed, vertical position, rollers 24 are urged by springs 48 into openings 22. This holds the door in said closed position. When the door is pulled open, the peripheries of rollers 24 ride out of openings 22 and against the adjacent portions of the front ends 18 of arms 16. When the door has been partly opened, rollers 24 clear the front ends 18 of arms 16 and the door is free to move to its full open position, or until shoulders 54 abut shoulders 56. It will thus be seen that I have developed a very simple, inexpensive and foolproof latch and hinge mechanism, and one which is effective for the purpose for which it is intended. It will also be seen that the springs 48 which are the only heat sensitive parts of the mechanism are located in the insulated body of the door where they are protected against the high temperatures which develop inside the oven or broiler compartments.

What I claim is:

A wall structure defining a compartment having vertical side walls with its front end open, a door, means hinging the bottom edge of said dor to the bottom wall of said compartment whereby said door is rotatable about a horizontal axis to a first substantially vertical position in which it closes said front end and to a second substantially horizontal position in which said door does not close said front end, a horizontal arm having its inner end rigidly secured to at least one side wall of said compartment with its outer end projecting through said open front end, there being a vertical opening in said outer end of said arm, an extention depending from said outer end of said arm, a bracket carried by the inner side, and near a vertical edge of said door, hinge means connecting the lower end of said extention to the adjacent end of said bracket, a roller carried by said bracket, said roller being disposed at a distance from said hinge means such that, when the door is moved to its first vertical position, said roller will engage said opening to retain said door in said vertical position, there being a slot in the inner side of said door for receiving said outer end of said arm when said door is in its vertical closing position, and a spring carried by said bracket and biasing said roller into said opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

